Jacob the Challenger
by Random Guise
Summary: One of the first ever mentioned wrestling matches, Jacob tries to go back home but encounters more than he bargained for. NOT written in Olde English. Nobody owns these characters.


**A/N: Genesis 32 gives us what must have been a wrestling match for the ages. Jacob is returning home to his birth family after spending many years accumulating wives, children and livestock and sends them ahead while he follows behind, alone. But he was neither following nor alone long when someone attempts to stop him. When I asked a Rabbi that was leading our study group why Jacob would just wrestle a stranger, he couldn't explain why; his reaction was more "Why wouldn't you?". I've never been content with that answer and the Bible doesn't give many details either, so my imagination kicked in with a way it probably DIDN'T go...**

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Jacob The Challenger

" _And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day_." Genesis 32:24 KJV

"Quiet at last. I had forgotten what it sounded like."

In the dark, alone now that his wives, children, servants and animals had gone on ahead Jacob contemplated just how quiet it was. With the nearly full moon casting its light upon the land as it set towards the west, he could make out the tracks where his entourage had come and gone. He had not heard such quiet in many years, and it was comforting to a small degree. He had been told by God himself to go back home, and he wanted very much to see his parents again. He started to cross the Jabbok when he was interrupted.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice called out in the night. Jacob could just make out the figure of a man in the dark.

"I'm going back to a home I have not seen in over fourteen years. Surely you saw my family pass by before me" Jacob answered.

"Yes, it was quite the rabble, an army of women and children. No doubt you sent them ahead as easy targets" the stranger said.

"I've done nothing of the sort! Now let me pass friend, for I have to catch up quickly to them."

"You shall do nothing of the kind; for I know of you, and from where you have journeyed. No doubt many of your possessions are stolen from your uncle Laban" the stranger taunted.

"My possessions are rightfully gotten, purchased with sweat and toil. Why are you trashing my reputation?"

"Your reputation was trashed long before tonight; go back to where you've been and maybe you can trick some other people out of their things you robber!"

"Stand aside!" Jacob demanded. "I'm coming across and I don't need your approval to pass you by."

"How can you challenge me when you don't have your wives and children to defend you? You'll have to come through me to cross."

Jacob strode up to the stranger, intending to sidestep around quickly and be on his way. However, he was grabbed my his coat and thrown backward to the ground. "Behold, the general of his own army lies on the ground. Crawl back to Laban, and don't embarrass your parents by showing up at your so-called home" the stranger goaded.

"That's enough!" Jacob yelled as he rose and tackled the stranger. They both fell to the ground in a tangle of legs and arms. Jacob tried to knock the stranger out of the way to escape over the river several times, but would get hauled back to the other side again on each attempt.

Jacob varied his attack, but each attempt was thwarted and the stranger countered with a maneuver that sent Jacob back. On the next attempt the stranger pinned him to the ground.

"Had enough milk drinker? Come back when you can handle meat!" The stranger stood up and brushed the sand off his hands. Jacob, not through, grabbed him below the knees and upended the man before dropping him and then pouncing on top.

Together they rolled close to the water's edge in the area where they had broken down the bank from their struggles. Jacob considered trying to dunk the stranger's head in the water, but did not want to kill him. "I don't want to harm you, but I must cross. I have been commanded by the God of my fathers to do so."

"Maybe you aren't worthy of their God" the stranger said and he lifted Jacob with a bent leg and kicked him onto his back. Jacob grabbed a hand full of sand to throw into the face of the stranger, then thought better of it. He rose to stagger back up the bank, staying low and trying to flank the stranger; but when he approached the river at another spot the stranger still stood in his path. "You're persistent, but so is a mosquito; I'm not going to let you cross."

While they had been struggling, the sky was becoming more light to the east. With a titanic effort Jacob launched himself off the top of the bank onto the stranger, and sent them both into the river at the bank. Jacob was tiring and was wondering why the stranger wasn't, but he changed tactics and locked onto the stranger with an arm lock that would not be pried loose.

"It's almost daytime!" the stranger called out. "Let me go before the sun comes up or you will die." The stranger, with a lightning fast move jammed his fingers into Jacob's thigh, knocking something out of joint and causing great pain.

Jacob felt in the core of his being that the stranger spoke the truth, but he wasn't going to yield by releasing his hold. "I'll let you go if you bless me."

"Let me go!"

"Bless me!"

"I said let me go!"

" _BLESS ME!_ "

The stranger sighed. "What is your name?"

"Jacob."

"Not anymore, that name no longer describes you. Your new name is Israel, and I think we both know you've earned it" the stranger said.

"Thanks, I guess. Sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"You have to ask?" And the stranger blessed Jacob, who then limped across the river to the other bank. As the sun rose, he turned and saw only the broken down river bank and signs of a struggle; the stranger had vanished. He turned back in the direction his family had taken and quickened his encumbered stride to catch up, hoping that his brother had been softened up with the gifts he had sent ahead.

The End

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 **A/N: I know the details of the wrestling itself isn't important, but rather the victory of Jacob in the struggle. And for a fight that could have lasted hours for all we know, this story is short as well. I just couldn't find a way to work corner managers, folding chairs and a traditional ring into the narrative; one finds so few of them in the desert.  
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 **I actually got around to writing this story when I was looking at different categories on the site. I was really surprised at how many different wrestling crossover categories there were, so I starting thinking about a really odd one nobody had covered. Then this idea came to mind.**


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